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news A9
Monday, June 5, 2017 guardian.co.tt De la Bastide
bats for Archie
Former chief justice Michael de
la Bastide is standing in the cor-
ner of Chief Justice Ivor Archie
and members of the Judicial and
Legal Service Commission (JLSC),
saying while they may stand ac-
cused of maladministration and
misjudgement they are not guilty
of misconduct and there is no need
for them to resign despite the over-
whelming vote of no confidence by
members of the Law Association.
On Thursday in an historic vote,
over 1,000 members voted in favour
of resolutions which spoke to loss of
confidence in the CJ and the JLSC and
calling for their resignations.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian
yesterday, de la Bastide admitted he
had concerns about what transpired
with the JLSC in the appointment of
Marcia Ayers-Caesar, saying from the
very beginning he felt members of the
JLSC "were guilty of misjudgement and
maladministration."
But he said this "was not misbehav-
iour and therefore their removal from
office, at least on the facts so far dis-
closed, is not warranted."
De la Bastide said while the vote by
members of the Law Association "was
presumably intended to show disap-
proval of their handling of the appoint-
ment of chief magistrate Marcia Ay-
ers-Caesar and to put pressure on them
to resign," he felt "what is contained
does not amount to misbehaviour in
the conduct that warrants impeach-
ment. I do not see any reason why the
CJ and the members of the JLSC should
resign."
This position is at odds with another
former chief justice, Sat Sharma, who
said with lawyers having "voted over-
whelmingly to say we have no faith or
confidence in you, this should lead to
your resignation and the Chief Justice
should say I will demit office."
De la Bastide added: "I don't agree
with seeking to pressure someone into
resigning for a reason which will not
justify their removal from office. A
forced resignation is little different
from the removal from office."
Reminded that Ayers-Caesar,
through her attorney Ramesh Law-
rence Maharaj, had indicated she was
forced to sign a resignation letter pre-
pared by someone else, de la Bastide
said: "I think that could be legitimately
raised by way of her objection to her
resignation."
Making it clear he was not saying
that "the JLSC is altogether free of
blame for what has happened," de la
Bastide insisted that "from what has
been disclosed it appears that where
they went wrong was in relying on the
former chief magistrate with regard to
her existing case load. Assuming that
amounted to a lack of due diligence, I
do not think that it amounts to mis-
behaviour in the context of impeach-
ment."
He said while the no confidence vote
and the resolutions which were passed
"cannot be ignored, one has to look at
the matter holistically. For instance,
has there been fairness in relation to
the process adopted if it will require
the resignation of these officers? The
question is have they been given the
opportunity to respond to the allega-
tions made in the context of the process
that might lead to their resignation?
There must be fairness, which re-
quires the person against whom the
allegation is made is allowed to defend
themselves."
He is hoping that given all that has
transpired, the "Chief Justice and fel-
low members of the JLSC will, by their
handling of this and related matters
from here on end, regain the confidence
of the members of the law association."
De la Bastide is, however, concerned
that the unfolding scenario "could
result in many legal battles, the most
important legal battle is what happens
to the part-heard cases, that may in-
volve different lapses of time and the
stage to which they have advanced. I
don't think it is a case of one size fits
all, one would have to examine all the
facts, including how long the cases
have been pending."
The Director of Public Prosecutions,
he said, has to "address his mind to the
issues identified, would it be appropri-
ate to restart the proceedings, or would
it be unfair to withdraw the charge."
One of the questions, he said, is
"whether the chief magistrate is still
the chief magistrate, has she resigned
or if not has her appointment as a High
Court judge automatically terminated
her tenure of the post of chief mag-
istrate, because if she is available to
continue the matters then perhaps
the question would arise whether the
matters ought not to be simply con-
tinued by her."
But he said the question has to be
answered "is she still a magistrate, is
she still the chief magistrate, if she is,
is some disciplinary charge to be laid
against her for having misled the JLSC?
Because if she is the JLSC will have to
bring a disciplinary charge against her
for having misled them."
CJ chats for over
hour at law session
Chief Justice Ivor Archie and director of infor-
mation technology at the Judiciary, Carol Herbert,
kicked off day two of the Barbados Bar Associa-
tion's inaugural weekend law conference on Sat-
urday.
The duo shared a 75-minute time slot along with retired
Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmons, speaking
on the topic Technology and the Pace of Justice Delivery.
Archie and Barbados Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson
were the only two chief justices on the programme.
Other presenters included Dean of the Faculty of Law,
Cave Hill, Dr David Berry; senior legal officer, Caricom
Secretariat, Gladys Young; president Barbados Associ-
ation of Medical Practitioners, Dr Abdon Da Silva and
past president of the Barbados Bar Association, Andrew
Pilgrim QC.
Trinidadian presenters were chairman of Caribbean
Corporate Governance Institute Ronnie Bissessar and
attorney Lemuel Murphy.
Despite the Law Association's vote of no confidence
in him on Thursday night, Archie told the T&T Guardian
he has no intention of stepping down.
Archie is the youngest person to become Chief Jus-
tice of T&T. In 2008, at age 47, he was appointed this
country's eighth CJ. He is the holder of a mechanical
engineering degree from The University of the West In-
dies, St Augustine and a law degree from the University
of Southampton. He was admitted to the Bar in 1986.
---Rhonda Krystal Rambally
Former Chief Justice
Micheal de la Bastide
...conduct does not warrant impeachment